It’s been three years since James Corden signed off from CBS’ The Late Late Show after an eight-year run that brought us “Carpool Karaoke,” “Crosswalk: The Musical,” and helped redefine what a post-midnight network show could look like in the YouTube age.
It took FOX and the World Cup to woo the lifelong soccer fan back to the time period for a new 24-episode limited series that’s set to blend comedy, celebrity guests, audience energy, and tournament reaction throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
FIFA World Cup on FOX After Hours with James Corden—a name that just “rolls off the tongue,” as Corden quipped when the show was first announced last month—is the latest in a growing series of untraditional approaches to late night. With the former Late Late Show host at the helm, it also may be one of the more natural fits: an established late-night performer building a nightly show around a live event already designed to generate conversation.
Here’s what we know about the show so far.
What Is FIFA World Cup on FOX After Hours with James Corden?
FIFA World Cup on FOX After Hours with James Corden is FOX’s new late-night companion show for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is being jointly hosted this year by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
The series will follow the network’s coverage of key primetime matches with a comedic look at the tournament’s biggest moments, storylines, personalities, and viral detours. FOX says the show will be built around Corden’s “lifelong soccer fandom” and will feature appearances from some of the biggest names in pop culture and the game.
At FOX’s upfront, Corden described the idea more casually: “What we’re going to try and do is make it feel like if you couldn’t meet up with your friends in a bar that night, we’ll be there to have some fun.”
Is This Really James Corden’s Return to Late Night?
In practical terms, yes. It’s not a revival of The Late Late Show, but it does reunite Corden with several of his collaborators from that show, and has him back hosting an hourlong network show after midnight, in front of a studio audience, with comedy and celebrity drop-ins.
At the same time, it’s a limited series focused on the World Cup, making it more of a late-night-shaped sports entertainment experiment—one that arrives at a moment when the definition of “late night” keeps stretching beyond the old desk-and-band template.
Who’s Joining Corden?
Corden will be joined in studio by former England national team captain Rio Ferdinand and comedian Ian Karmel.
Ferdinand brings some serious World Cup credibility. He played in three World Cups for England—1998, 2002, and 2006—and has since become a prominent broadcaster in the U.K.
Karmel brings the late-night connection. He was a founding writer on Corden’s version of The Late Late Show and later served as the show’s head writer and in-studio sidekick. Karmel’s extensive comedy writing credits include The Tonight Show, the Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, Tonys, and the Tom Brady roast.
How Much of Corden’s Late Late Show Team Is Involved?
More than a little.
In addition to Karmel, four of the show’s executive producers have ties to Corden’s CBS run: Ben Winston, James Longman, Gabe Turner, and Eric Pankowski.
That makes After Hours something of a partial Late Late Show reunion, even if the premise is coming through FOX Sports rather than a late-night entertainment division.
What Will the Show Actually Look Like?
Viewers can expect a nightly mix of tournament reaction, comedy, celebrity guests, and human-interest stories from around the 48-team field. FOX says the show will spotlight “the tournament’s most talked-about moments and storylines of the day,” while also looking for stories around viral fans, team-adjacent characters, and other World Cup oddities.
Corden has said the goal is “a lighthearted look at the World Cup,” covering the games and “anything that may have happened that day.”
In other words, expect less hard-core match analysis and more Corden-style late-night energy filtered through the world’s biggest sporting event.
Where Is It Being Produced?
The show will originate from Los Angeles on the FOX Studio Lot, marking a return to the City of Angels for Corden, who relocated his family from his native England for Late Late Show. They returned home after the show’s finale in 2023.
When Will It Air?
The show premieres Thursday, June 11, the opening night of the tournament, and will air live on FOX around midnight ET. Fox Sports’ overall World Cup coverage runs June 11 through July 19, with all 104 matches airing across FOX and FS1.
After Hours is currently set to air across 24 nights from June 11 through July 15, following the matches airing on FOX.
The show’s full schedule follows below:
- Thursday, June 11 — Korea vs. Czechia
- Friday, June 12 — USA vs. Paraguay
- Sunday, June 14 — Sweden vs. Tunisia
- Monday, June 15 — Iran vs. New Zealand
- Wednesday, June 17 — Uzbekistan vs. Colombia
- Thursday, June 18 — Mexico vs. Korea
- Sunday, June 21 — New Zealand vs. Egypt
- Tuesday, June 23 — Colombia vs. Congo
- Wednesday, June 24 — South Africa vs. Korea
- Thursday, June 25 — Paraguay vs. Australia
- Sunday, June 28
- Monday, June 29
- Tuesday, June 30
- Wednesday, July 1
- Friday, July 3
- Saturday, July 4
- Sunday, July 5
- Monday, July 6
- Tuesday, July 7
- Thursday, July 9
- Friday, July 10
- Saturday, July 11
- Tuesday, July 14
- Wednesday, July 15
Can Fans Attend?
Yes. Free tickets are being offered through 1iota, and audience members are being invited to arrive early for an in-studio watch party before each taping.
That detail may be key to the show’s tone. FOX is not just booking a host to recap the day’s soccer news; it appears to be building a live-room, postgame atmosphere around the broadcast itself.
Why It Matters for Late Night
After Hours arrives as live sports and live events in general have proven more durable than much of traditional broadcast programming. As general entertainment audiences continue to fragment, a sports-themed late-night show makes more sense than it might have even a few years ago: it gives late night the immediacy of a live event, the built-in storylines of a tournament, and the communal viewing energy that fueled late-night TV from the start.
It’s not the first recent attempt to fuse sports and late night. In early 2025, ESPN launched They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce, a limited-run show built around the NFL playoffs. But FOX’s Corden series may be better positioned to test the idea at scale. Rather than asking an athlete to host a late-night show, FOX is putting an established late-night performer at the center of a global live sports event.
In that sense, FIFA World Cup on FOX After Hours with James Corden fits into a broader shift in late night. The genre has moved a long way from the broad-tent model exemplified by Johnny Carson. Increasingly, its success stories are more targeted: Watch What Happens Live programs directly to Bravo obsessives, Gutfeld! to Fox News viewers, and now After Hours to World Cup fans.
